Editorial: San Rafael must provide details for sales tax vote

JUST SEVEN YEARS AGO, San Rafael voters bailed out City Hall, approving a special half-cent sales tax increase for local services. Today, the City Council is getting prepared to ask voters to renew that tax.

A city-sponsored poll of likely voters shows that there is a strong chance voters will extend the tax. A poll shows that nearly two-thirds of those asked support extending the city tax.

Because the measure needs only a simple majority for passage, that's a huge start.

That's because voters support the local services the city provides.

Some services and levels of services were cut as the city plowed through the tough fiscal challenges generated by a historic recession. The city's income fell as the cost of doing business rose.

The city had to dip into reserves to cover costs and issue a long-term bond to cover its increasing bill for pensions for current and retired workers. Without the special tax, matters would have been much worse.

San Rafael voters realize this budgetary equation.

As the city prepares to ask voters to extend the local tax, it should present details on how that revenue was used, and what local services it has supported.

City Hall also needs to provide voters with details of the city's progress in reining in costs, such as pension and retiree health costs.

Critics of extending the tax — there will be some — will likely contend it is needed to cover pension costs, when during the 2007 campaign, city officials stressed the purpose and need for the tax were broader.

This year, for the first time in several years, the City Council has a balanced budget, one that doesn't require the city to dive into reserves. The tax, Measure S, helped balance that budget.

That's what voters want to see.

Voters deserve details on how this revenue is important to its job of providing local services.

That's what they deserve to see before the council puts the measure back on the ballot.